I love Christmas! However I don’t love how commercialized it has become. With all the outside forces making Christmas all about Santa and presents under the tree… I have really started to make an effort to keep Christ the focus.
It seems kids are naturally excited about the presents. So much so that it becomes all they can think about or remember.
While I love my kids very much and want to give them some fun gifts because I love seeing their eyes light up. I just don’t want that to be their focus. What if we took the presents away? Would Christmas still be meaningful and special?
I hope my kids would still be excited even without all the gifts under the tree. As they think about the birth of the savior and what it means for them, I hope they feel love and gratitude.
When it comes down to it, almost everything that we do for Christmas has some sort of symbolism. Almost everything can be tied back to Christ. When my kids see a candy cane, I want them to think… that looks like a Shepherd’s staff. Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd and the shepherds came to see Jesus when he was born.
I would love it if my children understood what all of the special symbols at Christmas time mean. Thus the inspiration for this game… Kids love to learn about things while playing a game. They don’t even realize they are learning.
This game could be played a couple different ways. If you print out two copies of the cards it could be a simple matching game. This is probably best for younger kids.
If you want to make it a more complex game, like Go Fish… or Christmas Symbols, just print out 4 (or more) copies and you’ve got a super fun game.
We chose 8 symbols to focus on and pulled them from this book Stars, Stockings and Shepherds. We read it as a part of our countdown advent.
Scott and I just like to give little tidbits of information or ask little questions while we’re playing. It’s an easy way to teach without overwhelming.
CHRISTMAS SYMBOLS GAME
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